This invention relates to an apparatus for contacting fluids with solids. More particularly, this invention relates to an apparatus for contacting fluids with solids wherein liquid, solids such as fine particles and gas are contacted efficiently, solid-liquid separation is effected easily, and liquid free from solids is efficiently discharged to the outside of the system.
Various apparatuses and methods have heretofore been proposed for contacting fluid such as liquid and gas with solids. Particularly, many industrial techniques have been established for the cases where the solids are catalyst particles.
Of these methods, the method using a suspension bed is especially suitable for contacting viscous liquid with solid particles. The method using a suspension bed means the method of contacting a liquid with solid particles which, suspended in the liquid, are present in a vertical reactor. But, this method has several disadvantages, namely, that (i) the reactor becomes clogged since the fluidization of the slurry mixture stops suddenly, that (ii) solid particles are entrained by products, and that (iii) it is very difficult to make a high-concentration slurry flow through a provided pipe line smoothly. To solve these problems, a method wherein a reactor provided with a stilling region therein is used has been proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Koukai No. 60-23483 (1985) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,817,856 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,966. However, this method is not completely satisfactory.